Wow, what a huge difference a good neck makes!!!

Not to be too much of a smart ass, but I'm assuming you mean RW & maple FRETBOARDS. Although maple fretboards are usu on maple necks and they do make RW necks w RW boards.

All the loverly choices . . .

Best-
capt p

 

You've seen the light. The body is just a lump of wood that holds the other bits together, and if there is any tonewood effect at all, it is IMO more likely to be in the neck rather than the body. The tricky bit is deciding what constitutes a tonally "good" neck for your preferences. From my limited experience with my own guitars and amps, I would choose mahogany over maple.

 

I think the stiffness of the neck and the fit of the neck to the neck pocket are what makes or breaks a guitar. I am putting a warmoth neck on a very nice sounding Walmart guitar. Cant wait to hear how it sounds!!

 

Same here, and therein lies my 'problem' , i.e. finding a rosewood board 'V' shaped neck.

 

I'd love to buy from their "Gallery" but anything other than their 10" - 16" compound radius is few and far between! I have found that I dislike compound radius necks/fingerboards! They feel very unnatural to me. I must say that in regards to quality control, out of 5 or 6 Warmoth necks I've encountered, only one needed any minor fret leveling/crowning! Of course in my case, living in the dry desert of Las Vegas, fret ends will eventually/invariably need attention, coming from the "moist" Washington State area!

I won't beat up the subject of different materials affecting tone, but will allow the thought that the "feel" may affect the tone by how it inspires your fingers to play. I do LOVE the feel of ebony and stainless steel frets!

Just Sayin'
Gene

 

Yeah , I m not a fan of their compound radius either. Its just that I got a neck sight unseen and the grain pinch at the 5th fret makes the neck bounce between front and back bow. Shoulda sent it back. The Galery neck has like 15 layers of nice str8 grain.

 

"Same here, and therein lies my 'problem' , i.e. finding a rosewood board 'V' shaped neck". .http://stores.ebay.com/The-STRATosp...c=W+D+Stratacaster+neck&_sid=105525814&_rdc=1. http://stores.ebay.com/The-STRATosphere?_nkw=W+D+Tele+neck+chunky. low on the Teles at the moment, but these runs come around. I m a V guy myself, but these feel similar to my previously carpel tunneled wrist and you can sand them to a V if needed

 

Did he say that?

I think you misunderstood.

He's talking about some necks being better than others, and whether one was all maple and another not, was not necessarily the why of why one was better.

This IMO is not so much about putting the pickups or the body or the strings in the Dunce's Seat as we are trying to awaken people to the idea that the idea of

Any Ole Neck

is a bad idea.

But that's not even close to equivalent to Rosewood = Better or All Maple = Better. I only determine that Neck X is really good once it has been bolted up to 4-6 guitars and every one is really nice. Until then, no matter what it is made of or where it came from, it simply isn't proven yet.

 

My avatar guitar originally had a Mahogany neck with Rosewood board that had to be replaced, I replaced it with a Maple neck and Rosewood board. The new neck made the guitar's tone brighter.

I'm a tonewood believer, but when it comes to fretboards, I'm not convinced it matters yet. If it does, it's probably to a very small degree compared to a change in neck or body material.

All of my guitars have Rosewood or Red Oak boards because of looks, feel and available material. Had a Strat with Maple neck/board once, but didn't really like the feel of the board compared to Rosewood.

 

Well, I sincerely apologize for posting an opinion you didn't find relevant to the topic. I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me for my grave sins. Shall I consult you before posting from now on?

 

The heavier the metal in the bridge (saddles, baseplate, tremolo, etc) the less effect the body will have on the tone. On the other end of the string though, it is just those light frets and the wood of the neck. One thing is for certain, if you're swapping parts and you get it so it sounds fantastic, QUIT SWAPPING PARTS! Even if it goes against some theory you have about tone. The theory could be true in general but individual guitars can defy the generalizations.

Those guitar factories were not dummies when they used to make even low priced acoustic guitars with brazillian rosewood fingerboards. It was the best way to add the least amount of the most expensive wood that would make the most difference to the tone.

 

Fascinating ..........

 

I'm not convinced I could determine a good neck vs a bad neck by comparing tone alone in a blindfold test. However, I am absolutely convinced that the neck is the single most important component to determine whether I will like a guitar or not. It is pretty much the 'user interface' as far as I'm concerned. The profile, width, fret size and quality of leveling and polishing have everything to do with how I experience playing that instrument. I think that pickups and bridge are the major influence on the tone of the guitar but, if the neck doesn't please me, the rest of it doesn't matter.

 

"I'm a tonewood believer, but when it comes to fretboards, I'm not convinced it matters yet. If it does, it's probably to a very small degree compared to a change in neck or body material."


The fingerboard can be either important or not usually as you described .. A great board won't save a bad necks tone, but will improve a good tone. I designed and then had made an Aluminum fingerboard. I put it on a Mahogany neck then a Maple one. To my surprise sounded as different as any M vs M neck comparison, and the Al was obnoxious in its coloration. Now this was thru the body w a custom brass bridge on the necks end. After settling on the Maple, I tried pine and then Mahogany as the body wings. That could be heard as well even w the strings mounted on a single wood piece and the "HEY, I'M HERE" Al fretboard

 

.

 

After I screwed 'em on I forgot which one's which, but there's 3 Warmoths and 2 Musikrafts on my 5 teles, or maybe vice versa. Their profiles are a bit different--I like to experiment--but they're all deep and wide. I agree with everyone who's said the neck's the most important part of the guitar.

 

This.

 

I used to build necks with a 10mm x 10mm solid steel reinforcing rod instead of a truss rod, and these days use 10 x 10mm carbon fibre rods with wooden dowels in them. They are fitted into exact sized slots with no voids at all. I believe that is the secret to increased sustain if not tone which is hard to judge objectively with an electric guitar. Also, I believe the trapezoidal neck shape also adds significantly to "sustain" as well.

The secret I believe is total lack of voids within the neck itself which may occur with "normal" truss rods.

DC